Steve Has Seen the First 9 Minutes of STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS in IMAX 3D; Watch a Spoiler Free Video Blog Recap

Loaded with mystery, action, and incredible special effects, the first nine minutes of director J.J. Abrams‘ Star Trek Into Darkness was everything I hoped it would be and more. The best thing I can say about the footage is the second it was over, I wanted to watch it again. I’m counting the days to the film’s release on May 17, 2013.

But let me back up a second.

For those that don’t know, on 500 digital IMAX 3D theatres showing The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey this weekend, the first 9 minutes of the Star Trek: Into Darkness will be attached. If this sounds familiar, it’s because Abrams and Paramount are copying the Christopher Nolan playbook with The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises by showing the prologue before a big Christmas release. To raise awareness for the footage, Paramount and Bad Robot invited a group of reporters from around the world to check it out tonight at the AMC Century City in Los Angeles. Before the event started, Abrams talked to us about the movie, and how he didn’t want us to do a scene by scene breakdown of the footage in our write-up. Hit the jump for more.

As I just said, Abrams seemed really happy and excited when he introduced the 3D footage, as we were the first people to see the opening of the movie. Since Abrams stressed not spoiling the footage, and since it’s something I hate doing, I’ll just say the first nine minutes has a Raiders of the Lost Ark feel to it (you’ll understand why soon) and we do get to see a bit more of Benedict Cumberbatch as the film’s villain.

However, the majority of the footage features the entire cast (Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, and Simon Pegg) having to deal with a very stressful situation that’s clearly setting up a larger portion of the story.

Also, you get to see more of future Earth, another planet, and a few other surprises. Trust me, if you loved Abrams’ first Star Trek, you’re going to be extremely happy watching this footage, and it’s something you should definitely seek out this weekend before anyone can spoil it for you.

Shortly after seeing the footage, I shot a video blog with Erico Borgo from our partner site, Omelete.

We talked about our reaction to the footage and it’s spoiler free. Look for more on the Star Trek sequel tomorrow night because I’m spending a few hours tomorrow at Bad Robot in Los Angeles and I’ll be talking to the cast and filmmakers!

Finally, if you have yet to see the Star Trek Into Darkness teaser trailer, click here.

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